Minority owner Tom Stillman is trying to become the team's next owner and, according to ESPN.com and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has exclusive negotiating rights. A bid by Chicago-area businessman Michael Hulsizer, who also tried to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, collapsed in December.

The St. Louis Blues are worth $157 million, according to Forbes. (AP Photo)

Stillman is chairman and CEO of Summit Distributing, a St. Louis-based beer distributor.

Checketts, meanwhile, would've retained a portion of the Blues had the Hulsizer bid been successful. He is not, according to the Post-Dispatch, involved with Stillman's bid.

Formely the president of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, Checketts was recently named chairman and chief executive of Legends Hospitality Management, the food service and premium ticketing marketing company formed in 2008 by the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs.